Video 50 Hatching Exercise (Waves) (Patreon)

🌊 Hatching Exercise: Waves

By Pogzart

This hatching drill helps artists move beyond stiff, straight lines and start expressing movement, emotion, and volume through flowing, wave-like hatching. It’s a foundational exercise for more organic rendering styles—great for skin, hair, smoke, or even stylized shadows.

🔹 Purpose of This Exercise:

• Train your hand to follow flow, not just edges

• Build a sense of visual rhythm and curve control

• Improve ability to shade organic forms (like muscles, lips, or cloth folds)

• Introduce controlled visual chaos (a Pogzart signature style)

🧱 Setup:

• Draw a box or field area (any shape—rectangular, circular, or irregular blob).

• Within that space, begin hatching with flowing, curved lines—like ripples or stylized water waves.

• Vary the intensity by:

  • Changing line spacing

  • Layering more curves (crossing waves = ripple buildup)

  • Bending flow direction slowly, like a current shifting

✍️ Technique Tips:

✅ 1. Line Consistency:

• Keep line weight light and even at first

• Let the flow be dominant—don’t obsess over perfect gaps

• Thicker strokes can be added selectively for accents or darker wave folds

✅ 2. Wave Rhythm:

• Mimic the movement of:

  • Water ripples

  • Hair strands in wind

  • Smoke

• Curves can gently overlap or branch out like forked streams.

✅ 3. Layering for Value:

• 1st layer = main flow

• 2nd layer = reversed or curved intersecting waves (creates richer tone)

• 3rd layer (optional) = cross-contour ripples to imply form bulges

🎯 Challenge Goals:

• Try filling a square with pure curved hatching—no straight lines allowed.

• Make a gradient from light to dark only using wave spacing and layering.

• Shade a sphere or lump form using circular wave hatching—follow the surface!

🔁 Practice:

• Shade a ball using only wave hatching (curve follows the roundness).

• Try stylized hair or fabric folds with this technique.

• Create 3 different moods using the same wave shape:

  • Calm and smooth (even arcs)

  • Chaotic and wild (short erratic curls)

  • Heavy and dramatic (tight waves with dark overlapping)

💡 Bonus Pogzart Tips:

• You’re not drawing water—you’re drawing movement through light.

• Keep flow lines intentional—even chaos should feel composed.

• Use wave direction to suggest form volume without outlining it.

👉 “Control the current, don’t fight it.”
Let your pen flow with energy, and shape the light like rhythm on water.
– Pogzart